Metastable states in glassy systems

Giulio Biroli and Jorge Kurchan
Phys. Rev. E 64, 016101 – Published 11 June 2001
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Abstract

Truly stable metastable states are an artifact of the mean-field approximation or the zero-temperature limit. If such appealing concepts in glass theory as configurational entropy are to have a meaning beyond these approximations, one needs to cast them in a form involving states with finite lifetimes. Starting from elementary examples and using the results of Gaveau and Schulman, we propose a simple expression for the configurational entropy and revisit the question of taking flat averages over metastable states. The construction is applicable to finite-dimensional systems, and we explicitly show that for simple mean-field glass models it recovers, justifies, and generalizes the known results. The calculation emphasises the appearance of new dynamical order parameters.

  • Received 30 May 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.64.016101

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Giulio Biroli*

  • Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

Jorge Kurchan

  • PMMH Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, 10, rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

  • *Unité Mixte de Recherche du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure.

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Vol. 64, Iss. 1 — July 2001

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